English wine producers are seeing an increase of interest in the product, not only locally, but also from abroad: a decent English wine is much cheaper than the French.
Unexpectedly for all wine exporters, English sparkling wines can compete with French champagne and Italian Prosecco, not only in the UK but also in Europe and in the world. Exports of wines from England is performed in 27 countries of the world, starting with Japan, ending the US, and the total sales of ordinary and sparkling wines abroad have increased by 30% compared to last year.
The leading manufacturers of English sparkling wines are full of determination and optimism and plan to increase annual export up to 2.5 million bottles to 2020.
The largest markets are in the US, Scandinavia and Japan. Also, should be noted the growing popularity of the drink in Italy and the Gulf countries. This fact is highly indicative, considering that these countries have for many, many years traditionally produced high-quality dry sparkling wine, Prosecco.
British manufacturers believe that export of sparkling wines from their country yet in its initial stages. They believe that in the next five years, they will be able to increase the percentage of sales from 5% to 25%.
These wines are very popular in the local market. The main reason for this is that regular food stores and large supermarkets can buy the locally made sparkling wines in bulk without a license. They give 70% of racks under the national product in their wine departments.
Blind tests have worked better than any advertising: English wine tastings on almost all indicators are not inferior to the French and Italian (of course, the test took place without declaring the samples names). At the same time, the purchase price for sparkling wines of English origin is much lower than their branded competitors. According to experts, the climate of the south of England is absolutely undeservedly been underestimated, because it is quite favorable for the cultivation of high-quality wine materials.
As a result, the area of vineyards in the southern part of the country has doubled in the last decade. More than thirty new plantations have opened over the last couple of years, and the total volume of English wine production for the year exceeded five million bottles.
Experts and manufacturers give quite a positive and persuasive forecast for developments. But if England will be able to become a leader among the exporters of sparkling wines in the world, only time will tell.
